I shift into gear and it just...dies. Any ideas?

mythrenegade · #1 11-21-2009, 10:01 AM

The title kinda says it all. I start up the svx and it sounds great, and then I shift into gear and the engine dies and my dashboard lights up like a christmas tree. Anyone dealt with this before? Any ideas? I assume there is a sensor or something that has died...

Joel

1986nate · #2 11-21-2009, 03:02 PM

Are the christmas lights lighting up right before it dies or right after? If it is right before, your alternator/battery may be bad. I am going to assume it does that right after dying which is normal. My guess is that your MAF sensor is bad. You may want to try unplugging and plugging it back in-in case its just not making proper contact.

SoCal LS-L · #3 11-21-2009, 06:15 PM

How high does it idle before you put it in gear? If its idling too low or misfiring, the extra load of the transmission just might push it low enough to stall.

SVXRide · #4 11-21-2009, 07:38 PM

1. Check for codes
2. TPS setting
3. Idle air control valve
4. vacuum leak

-Bill

SVX_MY_BABY · #5 11-22-2009, 07:01 AM

Does the car sit a long time between journeys? If so you may be getting major binding in the clutches/transmission just from extended inactivity. Warming up for a while will help solve this. Also sometimes moving froward then backward will help. Then just drive it daily for a few weeks.

mythrenegade · #6 12-21-2009, 03:55 PM

Ok,

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was out of town, and then the Christmas season has kept me out of the garage for a while. So today I took a look at it, and here are some of the answers to your questions.

(1) The car does not sit a long time. I had, in fact, driven it a day or so before it first did this. But, I was up in the mountains, and it sat overnight, and the next morning it ran like CRAP (jerking, was just really bad) and I was terrified the tranny was going to explode and leave me stranded. After a while it seemed to run just fine. I have a theory on this that I will get to in a minute.

(2) I checked for transmission codes and all I get is the constant blinking once every quarter second or so.

(3) The throttle seems to respond perfectly, so I don't think it's a TPS issue. Had one of those on my truck, boy was that a royal pain to track down.

(4) Idle air control valve. The car idles at around 800rpm or so, which is awesome.

(5) Vacuum leak - Don't hear anything at this time.

(6) Tried to use the gas to keep it at higher rpm, still died.

(7) Christmas tree is after it dies. The MAF is not a bad idea, I might try this. I have a little more info that might make this more likely or rule it out, I want to hear from you guys but let me answer all the questions first.

So, today I started it up and it died as usual. Then I let it idle for about ten minutes and come up to regular operating temperature, and it runs fine. I backed it out of my garage and took it for a short drive. Stood on it and it runs great except that I need to tighten the transmission band just a bit.

So, the problem seems to be temperature related. In my mountain experience (just before all this started) it ran like crap until I had been running it for ten minutes or so. Today once I let it warm up completely it drives fine.

With this added info do you think I should try replacing the MAF, or is there a temperature sensor somewhere that needs to be replaced?

Joel